A Game of Chess
by obeytherandomness
Summary: Over the years, the tactical sport of chess has changed to a deadly battle game. The underground chess sets have taken much more than they should. The Kyuubi chess set will be the ones to stop them from continuing. This is sasunaru
1. Chapter 1

Before you read this, I am in no way a chess expert, so I don't know all of the special moves that chess players use. I'm sorry about that, but I will try my best to get them right.

Also, I do not own Naruto

* * *

Chess. A sport for the tactical mind to fight against each other in a non-lethal way. For many years this game had been a favorite of few. Its goal was to destroy the king and take his subjects as your own. To conquer the game board in a tactical way.

Not anymore.

Now it's a dangerous game played by many that relies on the strength of both the mind and the body. At first it was law that no man was to be killed in this game, but as time pressed on, underground groups began a series of tournaments that were fight to the deaths.

* * *

Sasuke opened the door to the chess store. This was going to be his first and only chess set. He wasn't like those rich bastards who kept buying more and more chess sets to show off their wealth even though they never actually played in any of the tournaments.

"Welcome sir," a shady looking man came to greet him.

He ignored the man and looked around the room at all of the queens encased in glass boxes.

"Allow me to show you around sir," the man said motioning for Sasuke to follow. Sasuke grudgingly did so as the man pointed to the different queens. Most of them tried to flirt with him through the holes that allowed them to breathe, but Sasuke ignored them and moved on.

By the time they got to the back of the large store, he was very disappointed in the weaklings that this shop had. He was just about to turn and leave when he noticed one of the glass boxes was shattered. "What happened to that queen?"

The shady shopkeeper turned to glare at the box. "Damnit!" He glared at the box for a moment longer before he turned to Sasuke and said. "If you'll wait here, I'm afraid I have to round up a stubborn queen."

Sasuke didn't know why he stayed when the shopkeeper left, but he was curious as to what the chess set was called. He moved forward to look at the golden nameplate. "Kyuubi," he said the name he saw out loud.

"Yea?" a voice asked behind him.

Sasuke turned to see ocean blue eyes staring at him. "Do you work here?" he asked as he looked the boy up and down from his golden hair and sun kissed skin down to his black combat boots.

"Ya culd say dat," he held out a hand covered from knuckle to elbow in black fishnet. "De name's Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke just stared at the hand for a moment until it dropped from his view and he had to look back up at the piercing blue eyes. "So ya're too good ta shake are ya? Well dat's too bad. I actually thought ya might be diffrent from all de otha rich bastards. So 'ow many sets do ya 'ave already? Or maybe ya're a newbie. If dat's de case ya shuld know dat none of de chess sets come with a king an' if ya aren't gonna be de king ya 'ave ta 'ire one."

Sasuke stared a moment longer with shock that this man would talk to a paying customer like that. Then his shock slowly melted into anger. "How dare you speak to me like that! I'll have you know that I only plan on getting one chess set that I will be the king of!" He had to stop when he saw the man grin widely at him.

"I guess you're not a pompous bastard afta all," Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but Naruto continued anyway. "I mean all de pompous bastards wuld'a neva let me get a rise out of 'em. I think I might like ya. What's yer name?"

Before he knew what he was saying he answered, "Uchiha Sasuke."

"Neva 'eard of ya," Naruto shrugged startling Sasuke. "I 'eard'a Uchiha Fugaku. 'e was a cold bastard wasn't 'e? 'e went missing along with 'is wife and first born some time ago didn't 'e? Dat was around when de underground tournaments first began wasn't it?"

"How do you know so much about my father?" Sasuke demanded. "It was put in the news that he died of natural causes."

"My da' was good friends with yer's," said Naruto. "'e created an' trained the Kyuubi chess set in 'opes of usin' 'em to 'elp find 'im. Unfortunately, when da' was killed, de queen was captured an' taken ta dis god forsaken place. All 'is pieces came 'ere too."

"Why haven't they escaped yet?" asked Sasuke. They seemed very capable of doing so if their queen kept getting out of his glass box like this.

"We need a king. We want ta destroy de underground chess games dat led to de death of my father," growled Naruto, "and de disappearance of yers." For a moment Naruto stared at him as though he was thinking really hard until he seemed to come to a sudden realization. "I know! You can buy de Kyuubi chess set an' den we can werk togetha ta take down de underground!"

Before Sasuke could answer the sleazy shopkeeper yelled. "There you are!" while grabbing Naruto's arm.

Naruto quickly ripped away from the man and his lips drew up in an animalistic growl. "Don't touch me!"

"How dare you!" screamed the shopkeeper as he moved to punch Naruto, but before he could he felt his arm being twisted painfully behind his back.

"What are you doing?" hissed Sasuke.

"I'm sorry sir," he cried out. "I'm just trying to put the queen back in his place. Please let me go."

Sasuke let the man go to allow him to fall on the floor. The man scrambled to his feet and went to grab at Naruto, but Sasuke smacked his hand away. "Don't touch him!"

"But-" the shopkeeper tried.

"He's going to be mine," interrupted Sasuke, "and I don't want you to touch what's mine."

"You want to buy the Kyuubi set?" Sasuke nodded. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. They never listen and they never do as their told."

"I don't care," Sasuke took out 5 hundred-dollar bills and threw them at the man. "This should be enough."

"Are ya really buyin' us Sasuke?" Naruto asked happily.

"Just so that I can find my father," answered Sasuke.

Naruto nodded happily. "Come on," he grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards a door that read _Employees Only._

"Where are we going?" asked Sasuke.

"We're goin' ta get my friends so we can leave." When they reached the door, Naruto tried the knob only to find that it was locked so he kicked at it with one swift jerk of his leg and the door swung open to reveal a long hallway lined with large cells that each had 14 people. The people looked miserable and very sick in the dirty cells.

Finally they came to the end of the hallway to find the most well kept area. The people inside seemed to be much healthier too. "Hey guys!" Naruto practically yelled as he lifted his hand in a wave.

"Yo Naruto!" another boy with a white dog sticking out of his loose black jacket said. "What'chu doin' back here?" he paused for a moment, "and who's this guy?"

"Dis guy," Naruto jerked his thumb over to Sasuke, "is our new king from now on."

Suddenly the lock on the door clicked open and a blood-red haired man stalked out to glare straight into Sasuke's eyes. "Is he trustworthy?"

Naruto wrapped his arms around one of the arms covered in a skintight black sleeve. Sasuke felt the strong desire to rip Naruto away from the man, but he fought back the urge by clenching his fists by his side. "Ya know I wuldn't pick a king without trustin' 'im."

"You trust everyone," the guy with the dog said.

Naruto just stuck his tongue out at the man. "As much as I hate to agree with Kiba," said another man with long black hair and pale skin, "how are we to know if he's really trustworthy?"

"Don't ya trust me?" Naruto pouted.

"We trust you," said the redhead. "We don't trust him."

"Why not?" asked Naruto as he let go of the boy so he could look at the three men.

"He hasn't gained our trust," answered the longhaired boy.

Naruto sighed as he looked between them. "Well we can start with introductions," he suggested.

"Fine," muttered the redhead. "My name's Gaara and my sand would love to have another bastard's blood on it." He was wearing a skintight black long-sleeve shirt with a grey bulletproof vest that only had one strap to hold it up. That back of the vest held a huge gourd made of clay. He also wore a loose pair of black tripp pants that were so close to the floor that his black combat boots, the same ones that all of the Kyuubi set were wearing, was covered. He had pale skin and green eyes, but what really caught Sasuke's attention was the love tattoo that he had on his forehead.

"Dat's gross," Naruto said as he stuck his tongue out at Gaara's blood comment. Sasuke, however, realized that the comment was actually a threat for him.

The guy with long black hair stepped forward and wrapped his arm around Gaara. He had pale skin and eyes that were practically white. He wore a short sleeve black shirt and black jean pants. He also wore a headband over his forehead. "My name's Neji," he said, "and this is my cousin, Hinata." He jerked his thumb at the girl who had the same skin, eye, and hair color. She wore a loose black jacket that completely covered her figure and a pair of black shorts that reached her knees.

"And she's my girlfriend," said the one with the dog as he took her hand in his making her blush. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes as well as tan skin. He wore a similar jacket that had a hood lined with white fur. He also wore black shorts, but instead of being tight on his skin like hers, his were loose. After a shy muttered word from Hinata he realized he hadn't introduced himself and proceeded to do so. "I'm Kiba," he pointed to the white dog that was resting inside his jacket, "and this is my dog Akamaru."

Two girls who were holding hands to his left stepped forward simultaneously. The one with the blonde hair and blue eyes, though they weren't nearly as vivid as Naruto's, spoke first. "My name is Ino," she said as her perfectly manicured fingers let go of the pink haired girl's hand and wrapped around the slim waist pulling the girl closer to her. "And this is my girlfriend."

"Sakura," said the pink haired girl. She had bright green eyes and her hair was pulled off her pale face using a black headband. She wore a black dress that included a turtleneck and it reached to halfway down her calf. Extending from under her dress to below the top of her boot, which reached just below her knee, was fishnet stockings. Hers and Ino's boots were the only combat boots that were different from the rest. They both wore boots that tied up the front with a three-inch heel in the back. Ino also wore a black dress that stopped in the same place, but she wore a low V-neck. It also had a hole in the middle to show off her stomach that came very close to touching the V-neck. Under the dress she wore a fishnet shirt that reached down to wrap around her middle fingers like a ring of fabric. A black satin ribbon pulled her long hair back.

"My name is Lee!" shouted the boy with the black hair styled in a bowl cut. He was wearing black long-sleeved muscle shirt and a pair of tight black jeans. A belt with silver studs was wrapped around his waist.

"My name is Kakashi," smiled a silver haired man. At least Sasuke thought he was smiling. He couldn't quite tell through the black eye patch and mask that covered practically all of his face. He wore a black muscle shirt with a turtleneck and a dark grey bulletproof vest. He also wore loose black jeans.

"'e's de oldest outta all'a us," Naruto whispered in his ear, "but 'e's also a pervert."

"I heard that," Kakashi said.

"I don't know what ya're talkin' 'bout," Naruto grinned. "I didn't say nothin'."

"Troublesome," sighed a boy with black hair pulled into a ponytail on the back of his head. He wore a loose black shirt and loose black shorts. "My name is Shikamaru," he yawned as he jerked his thumb to his right to point at a large man with brown hair that wore a dark grey shirt with a black jacket, black shorts, and a weird black headband that only covered some of his hair. "This is Chouiji," then he pointed to a man on the other side who wore a loose black jacket with a collar that was high enough to cover his nose, a black pair of shorts and a pair of round sunglasses, "and this is Shino."

"None'a dem talk much," Naruto whispered in his ear again. "Shino's too mysterious, Shikamaru's too lazy, an' Chouji's too busy eatin'."

"You know Naruto," said the another girl in the cell, "you can't tell a secret to someone when everyone can hear you." Naruto pouted at the girl and crossed his arms in front of him like a child. "I'm Temari," said the girl. "I'm Gaara's older sister and Kankurou," she pointed to the other boy standing near her, "is my other littler brother with his girlfriend Ten Ten." She wore a sleeveless black dress that had a small black jacket. She also wore the same boots as Ino and Sakura. On the other hand Kankurou was wearing a black jacket with the hood, that seemed to have cat ears, up over his head and he wore a loose black pair of pants. He also had tattoos on his face that were dark purple lines. He wore a big package on his back like Gaara's, but his was covered in bandages. His girlfriend wore a Chinese style black dress that had slits up to her thighs on each side so that she would have room to move her legs.

"And dis is Sasuke," Naruto said a she wrapped his arms around one of Sasuke's arms. All of the pieces tensed simultaneously and Sasuke had to wonder why they trusted him so little. "Come on ya guys," Naruto whined, "I wanna get outta 'ere."

As they walked past the cells they were met with glares from the pieces and were given the same treatment from the queens when they made it into the main room. "Dey're just jealous," Naruto smiled as he remained hanging on Sasuke's arm.

They made their way through the store to the shopkeeper where Naruto finally let go of his arm to talk to the man. "So I got a question fer ya," he said.

"I don't have to answer you," the shopkeeper said. In the blink of an eye the man was the captive of a wooden puppet that had pointed needles sticking out of it with purple slime dripping off.

"As I was sayin'," Naruto said as though nothing had happened. "I was wondrin' where dat little village you were talkin' 'bout earlier dat's ruled by Gatou is."

"I won't say anything," yelled the man, but when the needles got closer to him he finally broke. "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you."

Naruto smiled as the man told them all the information that they wanted to know. When the man was finished he was dropped onto the floor where he promptly fainted. "I feel bad," said Naruto as he looked back at the queens still in their glass boxes, "for leavin' 'em 'ere."

Ten Ten nodded her head and pulled out a large weapon that was shaped like a large windmill. She threw it and with a thin strand of wire she controlled it as it shattered all the glass boxes. At the same time the back door burst open to allow the pieces to rush out.

"Time ta go," said Naruto as he grabbed Sasuke's hand and rushed out of the room. As they ran, Sasuke began to wonder how he allowed himself to get sucked into the strange group.

* * *

Here, I want to mention that I do not plan to go along the Naruto storyline, but I wanted to use the fight with Gatou as a take off.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, comments, or requests, please send me a message and I will read them all. Flames are accepted and used to make my stories better.

I've decided to post all of my neglected stories. I hope you like this one.

I do have the next chapter written, but I don't want to post all the stories and their chapters at once, so I will post the next chapter in a week or after I get five comments.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke ushered his dark chess set through the door, which had been opened by his only servant, of the large mansion that he owned. "Thank you Iruka-san," he said as he moved by him.

"Wow!" Naruto gasped as he looked the room in awe. "This is so nostalgic."

"What?" asked Sasuke.

"I 'aven't ben anywhere dis big since my da' died," said Naruto. "It looks like my own home, but I'll neva see dat place again."

"Come on Naruto," Gaara held out his hand to him. "Let's go explore our new home." Naruto nodded and took Gaara's hand as, together, they walked through the huge house."

"I see you found a set," said Iruka from behind him as they both watched the 15 new people explore his house.

"Yea," said Sasuke. "They'll be the death of me." After a moment's pause and a crash in the living room he had a second thought. "Actually, they'll be the death of you. You should hire some people to help you."

"I'm sure I can manage," Iruka smiled.

There was another crashing sound in the living room and Sasuke looked at Iruka with a pitying look. "Are you sure?"

The only answer Iruka gave was to laugh before rushing into the living room to prevent any more damage. Sasuke followed at a slower pace. He didn't care much about any of the things in the living room as long as they go cleaned up afterwards. Nothing was precious to him. Everything that was was in storage.

He sat on his very comfortable couch and waited for someone to notice him. It didn't take long before Naruto had plopped next to him and said, "I'm hungry." Immediately there was a unanimous agreement from the rest of the group as they all sat down in various seats.

"Iruka?" Sasuke asked. Iruka wasn't the best cook, but he was all Sasuke had after his last cook was fired for trying to poison him. He had been lucky that one of his servants had been punished without dinner and had decided to steal some of his own. Otherwise, he would be dead right now.

"Chouji will do it," Naruto said. Chouji nodded and before either Sasuke or Iruka could protest he was heading towards the kitchen. "Chouji's de best cook I eva met," said Naruto. "'e can make anythin' ya ask fer and if 'e's neva made it before, 'e just has to try a bite and den 'e can know every ingredient and exactly 'ow ta make it."

"Naruto," said Kakashi with his normal eyes smile as he moved to sit as close to Iruka as he could. "We have to talk about Gatou. We have to go there soon before they starve to death."

"Dat's true," Naruto muttered thoughtfully. "I guess we shuld go soon."

"How are we gonna get there?" asked Kiba.

"We're going to walk," answered Kakashi. "That's why we have to leave so soon."

"We have to walk!?" whined Kiba.

"Yes," said Gaara in a way that told Kiba to shut up.

"Fine," Kiba slouched into his seat with the lost word said.

"I think we shuld leave tomorrow," Naruto said. "Dat way we 'ave some time ta rest and recover our strength."

"Recover my strength!" yelled Kiba jumping off the ground. "I don't need to recover my strength."

"Oh," said Sasuke with a smirk. "I guess you don't need dinner or a soft bed to sleep on." At that moment Kiba's stomach growled in protest and he sat down in silence. "I agree with Naruto," Sasuke said. "It's better to travel during the day and if we leave now it'll be dark within the hour."

* * *

It took them almost 3 day to reach the run down village. "This is worse than I thought," Naruto said sadly. "It's like a ghost town."

"They're all watching us," said Neji without looking around.

"Are dey afraid'a us?" asked Naruto.

"I wouldn't doubt it," said Sasuke. "By what I heard they've been treated really badly by underground chess sets even before Gatou came."

"Oh," said Naruto. "It's a good thing we came ta save 'em."

"We have to win the match first," muttered Gaara.

"You're not welcome here," yelled an old man as he stood a few feet in front of them, "We don't want you here. Leave."

"Don't ya wannna get rid'a Gatou?" asked Naruto.

"We don't want another underground chess set here. It'll only lead to more death and destruction."

"But if we leave dere'll be even more of it," said Neji. "You culd at least take de chance of us actually 'elping ya."

"We're fine," the old man said. "When the bridge is finished we'll be able to get to the mainland and we'll be well again."

"Until Gatou puts a tole on your bridge and posts guards to kill anyone who doesn't pay," said Sasuke.

"We've ben travellin' fer three days," Naruto stepped forward. "At least let us stay de night."

The man growled. He was just about to decline when a younger woman stepped out into the open and said, "I own an inn. Why don't you stay there for the night?"

"Tsuname!" the man gasped.

"I will not be uncivil," she glared at the man. "Just because Gatou has taken over this town does not make us monstrous creatures who won't even welcome guest." She turned back to them and said, "Please follow me."

* * *

They made their way quickly to the biggest building in the town.

"This is our humble abode," said Tsuname. "We only have ten rooms at the moment. I hope that's okay."

"They should just leave," growled the old man.

"Ten rooms will be fine," said Naruto. "We can just share. Right guys?"

There was a unanimous yes from the whole group and Naruto smiled at the woman. "Culd ya show us to our rooms?"

"Of course," Tsuname smiled. "If you'll just follow me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes knowing that Naruto probably hadn't thought anything about the price. Luckily he was rich and he would be able to afford anything. "How much are the rooms," he asked knowing that he would be the one paying for all of them.

"Oh don't worry about it," said Tsuname. "I'm just glad to have guests visiting." Sasuke could tell that she was actually happier about them saying that they wanted to get rid of Gatou. Not that he blamed her. Gatou was a sick man and this village needed to get rid of him fast.

Sakura and Ino took the first room. Then Kakashi took a room to himself. Kiba quickly ushered Hinata into the third room. Shino took the next one to himself because nobody wanted to share one with him. Shikamaru and Temari shared the fifth room. Chouji took the sixth room. Gaara and Neji took the seventh and Kankurou and Ten Ten took the eighth. Lee rushed into the next room, which left Naruto and Sasuke to share the last room.

* * *

here's the next chapter. i'll post the one after this one on saturday unless i get 5 comments before then


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke awoke the next morning to find that the spot next to him on the bed was empty. With a look around the rundown room he confirmed that his new queen was not in the room.

Sasuke went down the stairs of the three-story building to find Naruto helping out in the kitchen.

"Ya're awake?" asked Naruto as he noticed Sasuke coming down from the top floor.

"So are you," answered Sasuke.

"Woke up 'bout an 'our ago," said Naruto, "an' when I came down I saw Tsuname-san workin' in de kitchen so I decided ta 'elp."

"He is very kind," Tsuname smiled.

"Mom?" asked a little boy from the hallway as he rubbed his eyes. "Who're they?"

"These are some nice young men from out of town," said Tsuname.

"We've come ta challenge Gatou ta a game'a chess," Naruto smiled.

"Why?" asked the kid.

"Cause we want to get rid'a him," said Naruto.

"That's impossible," the child growled. "No one can beat Gatou. You should just leave before you die."

"We won't die," said Naruto, "and nothin's eva impossible."

"What are you trying to do?" asked the child. "Do you think that if you beat Gatou you'll be a hero? Well I've got news for you. There's no such thing as heroes."

"Inari!" gasped Tsuname.

"It's fine," Naruto smiled kindly. "I 'ave no intention of becomin' anybody's 'ero. I just 'ate it when evil people like Gatou take ova a nice town like dis and destroys it fer no good reason."

Inari didn't even try to say anything. He just turned around and walked right back to his room, but Naruto saw the tears that were coming down his face as he turned.

"Inari!" Tsuname called after him, but he didn't answer. "You have to forgive him," she sighed. "Just before he was born, his biological father was killed in an accident during chess. Then the underground chess sets starting coming here. They took over our village and began to fight over our land. Soon it grew so bad that no one wanted to leave their houses. One day a travelling chess set came to the village. The king was a handsome man and Inari immediately took a liking to him. He became like Inari's father. One day, when Inari was caught by some of the chess pieces, he challenged them to a battle, which he won. For a few years after that we were happy again. We were able to leave our homes without fear of running into a chess piece. It was great. That is, until Gatou came. He challenged Kaiza to a fight, but before the day even came for them to fight he beat Kaiza and killed him. The village fell into despair and Inari lost another father. So, you see, Inari has lost two fathers to chess."

"I understand," Naruto smiled knowingly. "I lost my father to chess as well. I 'ope dat we will be able ta get rid'a Gatou, but ya guys also 'ave ta realize dat we're gonna leave very soon afta dat. If ya wanna stop fallin' inta ruin, ya need ta stand up fer yerself. Ya can't just keep waitin fer some random nice chess set ta come and save de day. If you do, ya'll will die." With that Naruto turned and left through the same hallway that Inari had disappeared in. Sasuke only noticed when Naruto reached out to rub Inari's head, that the boy had actually been there the whole time.

* * *

Naruto walked in the streets by himself. He noticed that everyone was avoiding him, but he didn't really care. He hated to admit it, but people had always avoided him because of his father. Even the people who are now his friends had avoided him at first. Sasuke was actually the first person that hadn't thought that he was weird. That was one of the reasons he chose Sasuke as his king.

There were people following him though. Two people to be exact. He continued to walk quietly. They would probably attack him when he noticed them and he didn't want them to attack him when he was near so many people. He walked all the way to the edge of the village before finally turning to face the men who were trying their best to hide. "I know you're there," he said out loud.

The two didn't say anything. They just came out of hiding and went straight towards him. They were fast, he noticed, but they weren't fast enough. He pulled out two kunai and blocked both of the attacks. "So ya must be de demon brothas," he said with a calm smile. "Culd ya tell yer boss dat de Kyuubi chess set challenges 'im ta a game'a chess in two days?" A sharp gauntlet was brought down towards his head and he dodged just in time to only get his hand nicked. "If 'e doesn't show up with 'is chess set dan 'e will forfeit." He said before turning and running back to the inn as he thrust one of the kunais in his injured hand to get the poisoned blood out. Luckily he had heard about the demon brothers from one of the other chess sets from the store and knew that they held poison in their gauntlets. He looked back to make sure no one was following him and was actually surprised to find that no one was. He probably shocked the two chess pieces by running away, but he knew that he hadn't seen the last of them or other chess pieces owned by Gatou.

* * *

Naruto walked into the house fully satisfied. He had examined the area, challenged Gatou, and even got some exercise while doing it. It actually felt really good to be able to run like he had just done again. It had been so long since he was truly able to stretch his legs since he was always trapped in the glass box.

"Welcome back Naruto," said Sakura as he slipped into a seat next to her at the long dining table built for the guests. "Where have you been?"

"I went fer a walk," Naruto answered.

"When's the battle?" asked Gaara.

"What do you mean?" asked Tsuname as she looked over to Naruto, who was grinning from ear to ear at each of his friends.

"It's in two days," he said proudly.

"I thought it was my job to make the challenges," said Sasuke. He had always been told that the king always challenged another king. The pieces were never the ones to do anything.

"Nah," said Naruto. "In underground chess any piece can make de challenge and den it can't be called off unless dere aren't enough chess pieces."

Tsuname looked over to Sasuke with a confused expression. She thought that all underground kings knew that, and those that didn't have pieces that knew the underground better than them. "Are you new to being an underground king?" she asked him cautiously.

"We're Sasuke's first chess set," Naruto said proudly.

"Why did you choose to come here when you don't have that much experience?" asked Tsuname.

"I have enough experience to beat this guy," Sasuke answered proudly.

"And 'e's got de best chess set in de whole world," Naruto smiled happily.

"I don't think you guys understand," Tsuname tried to say. "This man is ruthless."

"Dat's why we're gonna beat 'im," Naruto said. "'e won't know what 'it 'im."

"You don't understand," Tsuname cried out. "He's killed so many people. You can't stop him."

"Murder doesn't make anyone strong," was Naruto's only answer before he got up and walked away from the table.

"Please forgive him," Sakura spoke up.

"Has he had a hard life?" asked Tsuname because she knew that the only people who acted like that were either the ones who were spoiled brats or the ones who had had terrible lives and Naruto didn't seem to be spoiled with the meager clothes that he was wearing. He actually seemed to be wearing the cheapest clothes among the whole group.

"You have no idea," Kiba said only to have Ino kick him from across the table. "What was that for?"

"That's none of their business Kiba," Ino answered, "and if Naruto wanted them to know that then he would have said something. You have no right to talk about Naruto's past."

"I have just as much right as anyone else in this room," he answered.

"No one else in this room has that right either," Ino said.

"I'm sorry Tsuname-san," Sakura said, "but what they say is the truth. None of us have any right to talk about Naruto's past because none of us really know anything about what happened to him. We only knew what kind of a person he is and that is all that matters to us."

"Would you mind me asking what kind of person he is?" Tsuname asked. She understood what they were saying and she realized that she had no right to pry into these people's pasts, but there was just something about Naruto that seemed like a man who had seen every possible form of pain that life has to offer and more.

"Kind," said Sakura. "He is the kindest most honest person that you will ever meet."

"I see," Tsuname nodded her head. "Is it really okay for him to be here then?"

"None of us would be here without him," Ino shook her head.

"Why?" asked Tsuname.

"He's the one that picked me," Sasuke answered. "None of us would be here because they wouldn't have a king and I wouldn't have a chess set."

"That's why you're here Sasuke," said Sakura.

"For us it goes much deeper," said Ino.

"None of us wanted to be chess pieces," said Sakura.

"We were chosen," Ino clarified.

"We weren't given a choice on whether or not we wanted to join the Kyuubi chess set and many of us would have probably rather have committed suicide than go through what we had to go through to be chess pieces." All the chess pieces nodded in agreement with what Sakura had just said. "But Naruto encouraged us to keep living. He made us what we are today. If he wasn't there back then than we would all have probably died."

"He's our savior," said Ino.

"I had no idea that the chess pieces had to go through so much," Tsuname gasped.

"They don't," Gaara said. It was a short statement, but it spoke more about what the Kyuubi chess set had to go through than any of the words that the girls had said.

"Oh my gosh," Tsuname said quietly. "I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Ino reassured her. "It's over and we all survived. That's all that matters to us."

"Still," Tsuname insisted, "I hope that you guys never have to go through something like that again."

"That's impossible," Kiba laughed suddenly. "Not with Naruto by our side anyway!"

"Kiba!" Hinata whispered next to him. She was so quiet that her words wouldn't have carried any weight if it weren't for the sharp elbow that she dug into Kiba's side.

"Sorry," Kiba muttered.

"I think we should all get to bed," Neji said suddenly. We want to keep up our strength if we are going to defeat Gatou and his chess set, and that means training tomorrow."

"Yes!" Lee shouted. "We must strengthen our bodies so that we can show the awesome powers of youth!" With that Lee jumped up and ran up the stairs to go to sleep so that the new day would come much quicker.

The rest of the group got up as well and, with a groan of disapproval about having to train and a simple good night to Tsuname-san, went upstairs to their own perspective beds. The only one who still remained in his seat was Sasuke. He was too busy contemplating the words that his new chess set had spoken to be able to go to bed quite yet.

"Uchiha-san?" Tsuname asked from her seat at the table.

"I don't know anything about my chess set," Sasuke realized out loud.

"Are they that new to you?" she asked.

"I only got them the day before we came here," Sasuke answered.

"It takes time to get to know people," Tsuname said. "I think you will know your set before long."

"Yea," Sasuke nodded distractedly as he too stood up to go up to his room.

* * *

Sorry about the late update guys. This weekend has been very busy.

This was my last prewritten chapter for this story so i'll post the next one as soon as I finish writing it.


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